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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28731828">Construction</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAmazingOntos/pseuds/TheAmazingOntos'>TheAmazingOntos</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Change [17]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>No Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Magic Revealed, Mild Language, POV First Person</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:28:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,628</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28731828</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAmazingOntos/pseuds/TheAmazingOntos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I decide living in a hole in the ground is better than living with people</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Change [17]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960861</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Construction</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Jade, how good of a terramancer are you? I need a space opened up in some rock, and you're the only one I know well enough to ask," I say.</p>
<p>"I'm good. The question is, what kind of space and what kind of rock," he answers, not even lifting his eyes from the engine he's working on. We're in his garage, where he mainly works on street racers, and things are quiet for both of us, for a change. </p>
<p>Austin finally decided to ease off of me, mainly because I didn't talk to him at all for the last week and a half. He didn't go quietly, though, and kept nagging at me about Shivani the entire time. Shivani and I have been on eggshells around each other, and everyone seems to be picking up on the tension. Emily told me to stop being a baby and just give the relationship a chance, but she thankfully didn't press the issue when I didn't. The only person who didn't change was Alyssa, mainly because she still has a reflexive dislike for me, so the only thing that's changed for her is that everyone knows that I'm a shit human being now, and not just her.</p>
<p>Jade didn't want to say anything either way, but that's because of the amount of work piled up around his garage hasn't given him the time. Which is how I ended up here, today. Reinvoking spent enchantments on safety bubbles for the cars is simple work, even if it takes a lot of magic. Austin volunteered me, thinking that I'd open up to Jade, where I didn't want to talk to anyone else. </p>
<p>"It's beach rock, basically, and I need some spaces bigger than this house opened up into a cliff face. At least one will be halfway submerged, and another will have to have a clay or granite lining all over it's inside. You'll also have to leave some ledges along the sides to anchor floors that will come in later," I tell him, while checking my pockets for the diagrams that I drew.</p>
<p>"You did the land exchange deal? Nobody does that anymore. Especially near a beach. Anything from sea hags to the Nucklavee can come ashore any night and they all try to kill us. You're better off staying in the city, where the supernatural predators are small and easy to handle," he says while looking at me. </p>
<p>"It's not the monsters I'm worried about, it's my well intentioned friends in the ministry. All of them are trying to get me to talk about my feelings or to make up with Shivani. I need to get away from all of them, before they drive me back to insanity," I joke, because it's a laugh or cry situation for me. </p>
<p>"Do you at least have a plan for protecting your home?" he asks, while going back to whatever he's doing under the hood. </p>
<p>"Not really, but that's never been a problem," I respond, giving up the search for my diagrams. </p>
<p>------</p>
<p>"How do you plan to get in and out?" Jade asks, eyeing the cliff doubtfully. We're sitting in a boat, close to a nearly eighty meter, sheer rock face, and the scale of the job finally sinks in. I'm asking him to remove and stabilise tens of tons of rock that's being actively worn away by the sea itself. A case of nerves would be understandable. </p>
<p>"The larger bore hole to the back will be an elevator shaft, eventually. For now, I'll be entering and leaving by a temporary wooden bridge running into the dock," I respond. This place will need a lot of continuous improvement for a long time, which is ideal for me. I'll be able to avoid my problems by working for possibly years. </p>
<p>"Alright, let's head back. I can start shaping it from the top down, and maybe I can even save you some work," he tells me, already preparing for the work ahead of him. </p>
<p>An hour later, Jade steps back from the side of the rock, and stumbles for a second. I catch him, and I can feel that his right arm was petrified for that working. He looks down at me and says, "Don't worry, it'll be back to normal by tomorrow afternoon. Thanks to you, I'm all caught up with the work in the garage, and I can afford to take a couple of days to relax and recover. Now, let's take a look inside before we go."</p>
<p>He directs me to an entrance on the beach that sits to one side of my cavern(what else can I call it?). We step through, and the light from the ocean side entrances lets me see the changes he made to my rough design.</p>
<p>He's divided the space with fifteen foot high floors, giving me a four story space inside. The bottom pair only run half of the length of the cavern, with a sculpted wall at the end of the higher one, and stone bollards at regular intervals along the lower one. Beyond that is the submerged area I asked for. Large enough to moor a couple of workboats, the resulting space is more than I expected to get. </p>
<p>Above these, he's made further changes. The third level now has a massive flat balcony sticking out of the cliff, supported by stone arches. The inside section is separated from the outside by a massive glass wall that serves to also seal off the top level, where I had a stone wall before. To the back of the cavern, there are stone stairs to either side of the elevator shaft I wanted to put in, wide enough for four people to pass one another comfortably. </p>
<p>As I step forward to look around, I notice the floors themselves have been shaped in detail. They're level and flat, but textured enough that it's almost impossible to slip on, even when they get wet. The stone tanks I planned to use to store purified water are now glass, almost two feet thick. Jade has made so many refinements to my original design that I can begin moving in almost immediately. </p>
<p>"This is amazing. This is more than I could have hoped for. I mean, goddamn. I have enough space for my workshop to be in here, and to keep my living space separate. Once I put this seal in, I can move in freely," I say as I dig a round steel disc, the size of a CD, out of my pocket.</p>
<p>I walk to the glass wall on the top level, and Jade follows me, trying to see what I have in my hand. Once I'm there, I hold the disc up against the wall and cut into the hand holding it. Instead of running down, the blood starts to get absorbed into the disc, and it begins to pulse a red light. Jade doesn't recognise it, but he can feel the enchantment take effect. No creatures except the ones I designate can enter an area relative to the disc. It's very strong, but it requires a lot to put into motion, which is why they're used to protect entire towns, and take dozens of mages lending their power to it.</p>
<p>Eventually, I collapse from blood loss, but I've done what I wanted. I have a secured space almost five kilometres in diameter, which covers almost my entire holding. When I come around, Jade is looking between me and the disc with a look of sheer disbelief on his face. "Are you trying to kill yourself? These usually take at least three category fours, mainly to keep it from draining them dry. A piece of gear like this wouldn't stop until it's finished setting it's enchantment, unless.. "</p>
<p>He turns back to the disc, looking at it with a new interest, trying to see what's different. He eventually spots it, and the answer is so obvious that he can't believe it at first. "Batteries. You used magical batteries to provide the extra juice, instead of using other mages. It's so stupid that it shouldn't have worked, but it did. Any other dumb, brilliant ideas?"</p>
<p>"There's an extra ring that siphons power. The ring acts like a dreamcatcher, grabbing negative energy and trapping it. From there, it goes to the batteries and they power it, instead of drawing anything from me. Maybe next year I'll sell the plans to the guild, once I'm sure it works as intended," I say, slowly, because I'm still dizzy from the blood loss. I feel sick to my stomach, and everything keeps spinning, but I force myself to stand up and walk back to the disc. It's pulling energy from the area around us, but it's ignoring us, which is what I wanted. </p>
<p>"Okay, we'll do that. Let's just get out of here for now, because I've seen enough weird shit today. I just want to get home, have a deluxe cheese sandwich, and go and sleep," Jade says, while walking purposefully to his car. We leave, but we don't head straight back to his place. Along the way we stop at a roti shop(you have to be a trinidadian to understand good roti), load up on food, and he leaves me in his garage. </p>
<p>While I'm waiting for Austin to come pick me up, I eat, and plan on how to leave my ministry provided room for good. Having nothing makes it more complicated in some ways, but the actual leaving will be child's play. Everyone feels like they're mad at me, so it's best for everyone if I left. As Austin finally pulls up, I decide that I'll just do it tomorrow, so nobody can talk me out of it.</p>
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